HL Business News Exclusive: How Warren Buffett’s Wealth Grew Since the 1930s

In 2016, it’s easier than ever to play the financial markets. From the explosion of online brokers to the rise of robo-advisors, armchair investors have dozens of tools just a few clicks or taps away. Daily trading is a snap. Deep financial research has never been more widely available. If anything, you’d be a fool not to jump in, right?

Today, the Oracle of Omaha is worth upwards of $60 billion. He’s beaten the stock market roughly 47 of the last 50 years. Along the way, he’s made his fortune not through a whirlwind of clever trades, but instead, through a series of smart, long-term investing decisions.

Buffett has controversially avoided tech stocks and fancy new investing technology, preferring to evaluate companies by simple, time-tested standards. Is the market undervaluing a company’s intrinsic value? Does the company have a smart, responsible management team? Is the organization based on a fad, or is it a strong leader in a durable industry?

To get a better sense of Buffett’s success and investing mindset, the FindTheCompany team went back to his childhood, tracking his net worth from birth to the present day.

For this timeline, note that Buffett’s pre-1994 net worth is based on estimates, rough calculations and one-off reporting. Some famous Buffett stories and anecdotes are cited in several places across the web, but not necessarily based on one solid, primary source. With this in mind, we’ll do our best to caveat each figure, and present a range where necessary.

Starting in 1994, FindTheCompany turned to Buffett’s publicly available form DEF-14As. These documents provide information on Buffett’s Class A and Class B shares in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, as well as the current market value of the stock. Given Buffett’s own admission that more than 98 percent of his net worth is tied up in the company, we can estimate his net worth over the last 22 years with fairly strong confidence.

For each year or range of years on this list, we’ll highlight key moments in Buffett’s life, from his teenage pinball machine business to his lucrative acquisition of GEICO. But we’ll start even earlier, when Buffett turned a few sticks of gum into a tidy profit.

The 1930s

As early as six years old, Buffett was already an entrepreneur. He bought Coca-Cola six packs for 25 cents at his grandfather's store, then sold each bottle for 5 cents — a 20 percent profit per pack. He employed a similar model for Juicy Fruit gum, netting 2 cents of profit per pack. Rumor has it he wouldn't sell individual sticks, for fear he wouldn't be able to sell the remaining four pieces individually.

The Early 1940s

Buffett bought his first stock in 1941, six shares of Cities Service (later, CITGO, an oil company) at $38 each. A short time after, he sold the stock at $40. The price would skyrocket to more than $200 over the next two years. It was a missed opportunity for Buffett, but a lesson in patient investing that shaped the rest of his career.

Buffett went on to make $175 per month delivering the Washington Post as a paperboy. He claimed a $35 tax deduction for his bicycle.

In 1944, he invested $1,200 of his savings into 40 acres of farmland. By the next year, his net worth was likely as high as $6,000.

The Late 1940s

Estimated net worth: $9,8002016 dollars: $98,000Age: late teens

In 1947, Buffett and a friend spent $25 on a used pinball machine, setting it up in a local barbershop. They went on to buy two more, and after growing the business for several months, the two boys sold the whole operation for $1,200. In 2016 dollars, that would have amounted to more than $10,000 in profit in under a year — not bad for a couple of teenagers.

Between his paper job, land investment, the pinball business and other savings, Buffett had saved about $9,800 by the age of 19.

The Early 1950s

The early 1950s represented a transitional period for Buffett. He received his M.S. in economics from Columbia Business School, married Susan Thompson and accepted a job from one of his college professors, Benjamin Graham. His starting salary was $12,000 per year (about $106,000 in 2016 dollars).

That said, our net worth estimates for this period are fairly wide. Buffett was establishing the foundation for his portfolio, but he had yet to make most of his key investments.

The Late 1950s

Buffett started Buffett Partnership Ltd, an investment partnership based in Omaha. He went on to found two additional partnerships over the next several years.

In 1958, he bought a five-bedroom house, where he still lives to this day. The house was $31,500 ($267,000 in 2016 dollars). By 1958, he had doubled his original partnership's money, and his net worth was well into the six figures.

The Early 1960s

Legend has it Buffett set a goal to become a millionaire by age 30 (1960), and many reports estimate he was successful. But a safer date estimate would be 1962, when Buffett's partnerships hit around $7.2 million in value. Given Buffett's percentage of the business, he was worth at least $1,025,000 by that year.

Buffett merged his partnerships into one firm, then purchased Berkshire Hathaway, a failing textile manufacturing firm. He would grow his fortune almost entirely through Berkshire Hathaway up to the present day.

The Late 1960s

In 1965, Berkshire Hathaway bought a 5 percent stake in the Walt Disney Corporation for the modest price of $4 million. It would prove to be one of Buffett's smartest investments (although he admits he made a mistake to sell the shares in the '90s).

We estimate Buffett's net worth was around $10 million at this point, and probably close to $25 million by 1969.

The 1970s

Estimated net worth: $100 million2016 dollars: $328 millionAge: 40s

Living solely on a $50,000 per year salary, Buffett saved the rest of his assets, which likely passed the $100 million mark around 1979. During this time, Berkshire Hathaway would acquire See's Candies (1972), and invest in all sorts of big brands, from the Washington Post to SAFECO to ABC Broadcasting.

Perhaps most lucrative of all was his investment in GEICO (1976), which Buffett bought at around $2 per share. His company would continue investing in GEICO until 1996, when it bought the car insurance company outright.

The 1980s

It's possible — perhaps even likely — that Buffett became a billionaire sometime in the 1980s. Berkshire Hathaway continued to invest in companies from publishing (TIME, 1982), oil (Exxon, 1984) and finance (Freddie Mac, 1988), among many others.

Buffett officially shut down the textile arm of Berkshire to focus entirely on his portfolio of investments. He later regretted all the money he spent trying to keep the textile part of the business alive.

Buffett's wealth would fall by hundreds of millions in the 1987 stock market crash, though the business magnate would be quick to recoup his losses.

The Early 1990s

If he hadn't already, Buffett officially became a billionaire in 1990, when shares of Berkshire Hathaway hit $7,175. Buffett's wealth would grow rapidly over the next dozen years, as shares would climb well past $10,000.

Berkshire bought 10 percent of Wells Fargo (1990) and invested in Guinness (1991), among other companies.

1997

Berkshire Hathaway invested in Dairy Queen and Travelers Insurance, while Buffett invested 2 percent of his portfolio in silver. The company also invested in US Airways, which would prove to be a rare fruitless investment for Buffett.

2004

Bill Gates was elected director of Berkshire Hathaway. Gates and Buffett would go on to become partners in charitable giving.

2005

Net worth: $42,094,322,7602016 dollars: $51,106,128,848Age: 75

Berkshire Hathaway bought stock in Procter and Gamble and Anheuser-Busch (owner of Budweiser and dozens of other popular beer brands). While both were smart investments, Buffett would later admit to selling the Anheuser-Busch stock too soon.

2008

Berkshire Hathaway bought out Marmon Holdings and Coachmen Industries. The company also bought $4.4 billion in bonds from Mars Inc. (the candy company that owns M&M's, Snickers, Milky Way, Twix and 3 Musketeers, among other brands). Meanwhile, the company's value began to tank as a result of the worldwide financial crisis.

2009

Net worth: $41,351,493,0302016 dollars: $45,702,577,475Age: 79

Berkshire Hathaway reported a $5 billion quarterly loss, its worst since a downturn after the September 11 attacks.

2011

Like much of the world, Berkshire Hathaway continued to experience rocky results in the first couple of years following the 2008 downturn. The company also acquired Lubrizol, a specialty chemicals brand.

2012

Buffett's wealth stabilized with Berkshire back on track. Ever the contrarian, Buffett continued to invest in publishing, despite the industry's decline (it acquired the Omaha World-Herald). That said, Berkshire Hathaway also invested in IBM, among its first high-profile tech plays.

2014

Buffett became the second-richest person in the world (behind only Gates), with his personal wealth exceeding $70 billion.

2015

Net worth: $63,761,955,6792016 dollars: $63,787,243,417Age: 85

Buffett suffered one of his worst years in history, and one of the very few in which Berkshire Hathaway underperformed the S&P 500. Buffett's tech-light portfolio probably didn't help, as stocks like Netflix, Amazon, Google and Facebook made big gains, while almost all of Buffett's investments declined. (Unlike its fellow tech companies, IBM had a bad 2015, adding to Buffett's woes.)

2016

Net worth: $65,283,653,6832016 dollars: $65,283,653,683Age: 85

Buffett is off to a comparatively good start in 2016, especially considering the sluggish market. He has halted Berkshire Hathaway's slide, with his personal net worth climbing nearly $2 billion since 2015.

Haute Tease

The 2nd Annual Treadmill Marathon is set to take place Sunday, November 17th in Los Angeles, CA where participants are running for recovery, resiliency and hope for a better life for all those affected by mental illness. All proceeds will go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Chef Jennifer Johnson of Hip Chicks Farms you could say knows food. Her current gig as head chef for Ann and Gordon Getty, calls for her to craft exquisite meals for celebrities, public figures and most recently, President Barack Obama.

Clay Epstein's Film Mode Entertainment announces the EFM debut of the new family adventure film MAIL ORDER MONSTER. Wowing audiences in Berlin, the feature comes at a time where strong roles for women are the focus of the industry.

For those into old school beats with a fresh sound, two artists Ugly Duckling's Andy Cooper, a hip hop/rapper in the Sugar Hill Gang style and the Swedish band Easy layered Indie Pop are bringing the funk, breaks and beats.